Power-wrench



G. D. ALEXANDER.

POWER WRENCH.

APP'LICAYION FILED JUNE 3, 1919.

Patented une 1, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

ATTORNEY G. 'D. ALEXANDER` POWER WRENCH.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3,1919.

Patented June 1, 1920. s," *2 2 sHEETs-sHEET 2. 31 T...

ATTORNEY To all whom t may concern.'

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFICE.

GEORGE DEWEY'ALEXNDEB, or Naw-Yoan, Y., Assis-Noa or ONE-HALF 'ro l' -cLAaENcE n. sAUNnEns-.or CLEVELAND, omo.

POWER-wennen,

Specification of Letters Patent.

, Application med June a, 1919. serial 'ma 301,487.

Be it known that I, GEORGE DEWEY ALEX- ANDER, a citizen ofV the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Power-Wrenches, of whichthe following is a specification.-

This invention relates to power hand tools, and especially to power wrenches for putting on and removing bolt nuts. The object of the invention is -to produce an eflicient and simple power wrench appropriate for hand use and the length of which may be as desired. My new wrench is particularly useful in work under automobiles and in garages, but'is of general utility and may be driven by a han'd-crankif desired or by power; and to the-end that it may be the more conveniently driven bypower and.

without shock on the hands or arms of the user, my improved wrench is provided with a clutch mechanism under the control of the operator and is also provided with accessible means for locking either of its shiftable reversing gears in Iworking connectlon with its revoluble spindle carrying a nnten aging member.

n the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof and illustrating my invention,

Figure 1 isa len thwise vsectional elevation at line 1--1 o F ig. 3, the hand grip vbeing partially broken away.

Fig. 2 is a4 lengthwise section of the 'wrench at a line corresponding to line 2--2 of Fig. 3, being at 90 to the plane of the section shown in Fig. 1.

Fig.4 3 is a top p an view of the wrench. F ig.' 4 is a form f my new wrench in which the clutch mechanism shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 is eliminated: This view is partially in section at line 1--1 of Fig. 3. 4

In that form of the invention now shown, 1 is a spindle which for a portion `of its length is incased by -a lengthwise-extending tubular hand grip 2 within which the spindle is free to rotate. The upper end 3 of the spindle is preferably made polygonal in cross-section for reception of the lengthwise-chambered shank 4 that is peripherally interiorly polygonal for a sliding fit of the nut-engaging socket the shank of which is indicated by 4. Shank 4 is detachablyixed ally indicated 'by 8. Various sizes o nutengaging sockets may. bel attached to and Patented June 1', .1920.

detached from the splndle as required. Be-

low the socket 8 the spindle carries a collar 9 shown plnned to it at 10 and below the collar the spindle is formed with a peripheral groove 11 for reception of the end of a pin or screw 12 through the tubular bearing neck 13 of a'casing 14 having a chamber" A through which the spindle passesrfrom within the chamber of the casing outwardly to the nut-engaging socket, the pin or screw 12 in groove 11 together with the collar keeping the spindle in endwise assemblage with the tubular neck of the casing, this tubular neck forming a handle for the implement. The pin or screw 12 passes through a wall of thev neck bearing 13 and the collar'9 fixed to the spindle bears on the outer end of such neck bearing. In its preferred form the casing 14 is shown approxivmately as a segment of a sphere havin@ a bottom opening 15 opposed to the tubu ar neck-bearing 13 but having one portion of its wall made fiat to form a vertical wall 16 from which an integral tubular extension 17 projects laterally, the chamber B of this extension containing said clutch mechanism. Theopening 15 is to permit assemblage of members contained within the chamber A of the casing. 'The bottom of the `casing is made fiat so that the wrench can be stood upright on a floor or otherwise. .The cham-v ber A is provided with an interiorly projecting tubularv bearing 17 in which one end of endwise-adjustable transverse revoluble driven power shaft 18 is journaled, this driven power shaft extending through a bearing in wall 16 into the clutch-mechanism-containing chamber B. Between its ends the driven power shaft is provided with a thereon-fixed' peripherally-grooved shifting collar 19, and at each side of this collar the shaft is provided with a beveled gear 20one of which,according to the 'endwise adjustment of the shaft, is ada ted to mesh with a beveled gear 22 shown xed at 23 to theinner end of the spindle 1 within the chamber A.v When one ofthe beveled gears 20 is in mesh with the beveled gear 22,v the other beveled gear 2O is out of mesh beveled ear 20 is carried out of mesh with the beve ed gear 22, the latter and the spindle will be rotated in the reverse directlon. The driven power shaft 18 is therefore made endwise slidable and is mounted at rightangles to the axis of the spindle 1 with the beveled gears 20 and 20 in position to mesh one at a time with the beveled gear 22 at diametrically opposite portions of the latter. To one end of the driven power shaft 18, power is communicated for rotating it, and

in the preferred form of construction, such` power is communicated to the driven shaft 18 through a suitableclutch mechanism having a member that is rotated by a driver shown as a shaft 24 the outward end of whichv is formed for reception of either a hand crank if desired, or as shown for reception of a flexible shaft 25 which may come from any appropriate source of power located at any workable distance from the place atwhich the wrench is manually used. Of course the driven power shaft 18 may be driven by any appropriate means other than the flexible shaft, but for work under an automobile in garages the flexible shaft isy obviously the proper means for enabling the hand wrench to be conveniently used at various places under the automobile, and the same consideration would apply to various otherV uses of this hand power-driven wrench. The casing 14 is also provided in chamber A with interiorly projecting diametricallv-oppositely-disposed tubular bearings 26 at right-angles to the driven power shaft 18 and at a lower level than such shaft, the bearings 26 receiving the ends 27 of a transverse rockable spindle 28 which at one end portion adjacent a bearing 26 is provided with a collar 29 and at its other end portion adjacent its other bearing 26 is provided with a fixed, upwardly-extending crank 30 to the upper end of which a handle 31 is pivoted at 32, the handle projecting outwardly through an elongated slot 33 in the wall of chamber A, the slot being elongated in the direction of the length of the driven power shaft 18 and being provided at each lower corner with a downwardly-extending recess 34 with the walls of which a shoulder 35 on the handle may be brought into interlocking engagement to hold the handle and thereby the crank 30 in an adjusted position. The direction of the slot permits the crank to be rockedto rock the spindle 28 and thereby shift the driven B, splined to it at 41 a revoluble friction power shaft18 endwise to carry one of the beveled reversing gears 2() into and the other .out of gearedconnection with the spindledrivingear 22.V When the shoulder 35 of the han le is interlocked with one or the other of the walls of a recess 34, one or the other of the gears 20 will have been brought into and will be locked in inter-geared relation with beveled gear 22; and these movements` ofthe gears 20 are effected by the rocking of the spindle 28 with the crank 30 by means ofa forked shifting arm 36 fixed to the spindleat37. A V

.Inthe present' A:construction the laterallyprojecting tubular casing 17 has its other end open and exteriorly threaded at 39 forI reception of threaded clutch-plate-clamping cap 40 through the center of which the drive shaft 24projects and has, within chamber clutch plate carrier 42 for the friction plates 43v which alternate with the friction clutch plates 44 carried by a sleeve 45 secured by a spin 46 tothe driven power shaft 24 which. has a lengthwise-extending slot 47 for recep- 90 tion and lateral movement of the pin. To provide room for the clutching lmovement of the plate carrier 42 and of the platecarrying hub 45, the inward wall of the partition, wall 16 betweenV chambers A and B is formed with a groove 48 for the annular inward edge of the cup-shaped plate carrier 42 andwith a central cut-out 49 for reception of the opposed end of the sleeve 45. The friction disk plates are of well-known shape, the plates carried by the sleeve 45 alternating with the plates carried by the carrier 42 in the usual manner. To contact the friction clutch disks for clutching the drive shaft 24 and the driven shaft 18, the cap 4() is screwed up, one ork the other of the reversing gears 20 having been first adjusted in desired inter-working connection with the spindle driving gear 22. The lengthwiseextending slot 47 in the driven power shaft 110 18 permits endwise adjustment of such shaft relatively to the clutch mechanism, the shaft being endwiseslidable in the sleeve. The outward end of the hand grip 2vis preferably provided with a bearing 48 for the 115 spindle.

In Fig. 4 the clutch mechanism is omitted.

It is obvious that many varieties of'tools may be fixed on the spindle 1 in lieu of the nut-receiving socket shown.

What I claim is,- 1

1 In a portable hand-tool of theclass described, the combination of a revoluble tool-carrying spindle having a beveled gear on its under end; a casing formed with a 125 tubular bearing for the spindleand with a gear-containing chamber and also with a clutch containing chamber, the chambers being spaced apart by a wall, and said tubular bearing communicating with the gear- 130 l bearing containing chamber; said beveled gear on the spindle being located in the gear-containing chamber; an endWise-slidable driven shaft provided with a pair of beveled gears spaced apart by a distance greater than the diameter of the beveled gear on the spindle and located tol be brought one at a time into mesh with the beveled gear on the spindle; said wall between the two chambers being ape :tured to form a bearing for an end portion of the driven shaft which projects into the clutch containing chamber, the Wall of the gearcontainin chamber being provided Wlth 'a or the other end of the driven shaft; in said' clutch-containing chamber a clutch-disk-carrying sleeve loose on that portion of the driven shaft which is Within the clutch containing chamber, such portion of the driven shaft bein provided with a lengthwise-extending slot or reception of a transverse pin through the bore of said sleeve; the transverse pin; the outward end of the wall of the clutch-containing chamber being tubular, threaded, and open; a cup-shaped clutch-disk carrier havmg its bottom-forming Wallk centrally apertured and splined on a driver shaft independent of but alined vwith said driven shaft; said driver shaft; and a flanged clutch plateclamping cap having a central aperture, and

the flange of which is threaded for engagement with the threaded tubular Wall of the clutch-containing chamber; the driver shaft projecting outwardly through the central aperture of said cap.

2. In the combination set forth in claim 1,

means for shifting the driven shaft endwise to bring the beveled gears carried by it one at a time into mesh with the beveled gear on the spindle, and means for positively restraining said driven shaft from endwise movement when either of the beveled gears carried by the driven shaft is in mesh with the beveled gear on the'spindle. y Ink testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 27th da of Ma 1919.

GEORGE DE Y AL XANDER. n 

